Everything you can get ahead with in your car maintenance while you are travelling

Let’s admit it: car maintenance is one of those tasks we keep postponing because it never seems like a good time.

The scene is familiar: the service warning appears and you start negotiating with yourself.

“Next week”.

“When I have less work”.

“Before the next trip”.

Three months later, the warning is still there, now joined by a windscreen wiper that spreads water with the precision of an abstract painter.

The problem is not always that we do not want to take care of the car.

It is that doing so requires something that is usually in shorter supply than good intentions: time.

Booking an appointment.

Taking it to the garage.

Organising how to get back.

Being without a car for a few hours —or a few days—.

Picking it up.

But there is one moment when that last objection disappears: while you are travelling and the vehicle was going to stay parked anyway.

The best time to do things with your car may be when you do not need it

Think about it.

If you are spending four days in Rome, a week in the Canary Islands or ten days travelling around Japan, your car does not have much to do in the meantime.

And that parked time can become useful time.

Passing the ITV.

Getting the service you have been putting off for months.

Changing the oil.

Checking the brakes.

Replacing a battery that is starting to show suspicious signs.

Or simply giving it a proper wash.

The idea behind aparca&go Services is exactly that: making use of the days when you do not need the car to solve some of the things it does need.

You travel.

Your car stays.

But some of your pending tasks can disappear in the meantime.

The service you have been postponing for months

If the car is close to its periodic service, you can use your travel days to get it done without having to find another slot in the calendar.

At aparca&go, we can manage the official service required according to the vehicle, its mileage and the manufacturer’s maintenance programme.

And yes: this includes many of those things we tend to remember just when it suits us least, such as oil, fluids or filters.

Brakes, battery, wipers… those small signs you should not ignore

The car usually gives warning signs before some things stop working altogether.

A battery that starts taking longer than usual to start.

Wipers that clean worse than they smear.

A noise when braking that you have spent several weeks trying to convince yourself is “probably nothing”.

If you have already noticed something that deserves a check, the days you are away can be a good time to look into it and, if needed, solve it.

We can manage operations related to brakes, battery, wipers and other maintenance elements, always agreeing the work and budget with you beforehand.

And that last part matters: if an additional need appears during a service, we inform you first and you are the one who authorises any intervention.

Your car can stay with us.

The decisions are still yours.

Passing the ITV without going to the ITV yourself

Probably one of the best examples of time you can recover.

If the ITV is coming up, you can book the service so we take care of bringing the vehicle to the inspection while you are away.

You can also add a Pre-ITV, where we check the car beforehand to detect possible defects before presenting it for inspection.

That way, while you are sightseeing, resting or working hundreds of kilometres away, your car can be doing something much less exciting but just as necessary.

And neither of you has to sacrifice a morning for it.

Coming back to a clean car

Not everything has to be mechanical maintenance.

You can also use the stay to request an exterior wash, interior cleaning or a more complete cleaning service.

Because after a few days away there are two ways to be reunited with your car: finding it exactly as you left it —mosquitoes, dust and traces of that beach trip included— or finding it clean and ready to go home.

We will take the second option.

And a few other things

Depending on the centre and availability, you can also request other services, such as refuelling, electric charging or certain operations for rental vehicles.

In addition, for maintenance work we collaborate with specialists such as Midas, Rodi or BESORA-Bosch, among others.

The idea is always the same: if the car is going to be parked while you are away, make use of that time to do something you would have had to deal with later anyway.

Some things are better not left for “next week”

Postponing a wash for a few weeks probably does not have major consequences.

Indefinitely postponing car maintenance is another story.

According to a study by Fundación Línea Directa together with Centro Zaragoza, between 2015 and 2024 more than 23,000 people were injured and at least 670 died in accidents involving vehicles with some kind of defect.

That does not mean those defects were necessarily the cause of all those accidents.

But the same study points to something difficult to ignore: fatality increases significantly when vehicles have problems, especially when they affect essential elements such as tyres, brakes, steering or suspension.

There is also a relationship between delaying maintenance and doing worse at the ITV: according to the study, around 15% of vehicles that attend within the deadline fail, compared with 25% of those that are more than a year late.

In other words: “I’ll look at it later” works until it stops working.

Preventive maintenance: less epic, much smarter

There are few things less exciting than changing the car’s oil.

That is exactly why it is so easy to postpone.

But keeping the vehicle up to date helps detect wear before it becomes a bigger breakdown, reduces avoidable risks and can save you more expensive repairs.

And here there is an important difference: making use of a trip to do maintenance does not mean doing more things to the car.

It means doing the things it already needs at a better time.

If you have a service due in six months, there is no need to bring it forward just because you are going on holiday tomorrow.

But if you have spent two months thinking you need to book an appointment, the answer may be right in front of you.

You go travelling. Some pending tasks do not have to wait for you to come back

Before your next trip, as well as checking the flight, packing your suitcase and looking fifteen times to make sure you have your ID, take a look at the car.

When is the ITV due?

Is it close to its service?

Is there something you have been saying for weeks that you need to check?

Has it been so long since you washed it that you have decided that shade of grey is the original colour?

If the answer is yes, you may not need to find another gap in your schedule.

While you travel, at aparca&go we can take care of the ITV, servicing, maintenance or cleaning of your car so that, when you return, another task is not waiting for you.

Your car stays.

Your to-do list can come back a little shorter.